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Missing teen IDd as lake search continues

Forsyth County News

Crystal Ledford

Updated:
Aug. 6, 2014, 1:49 p.m.

NORTHEAST FORSYTH — Authorities have released the name of a 19-year-old man who is officially considered a missing person after disappearing in the aftermath of a lakeside party early Tuesday at Two Mile Creek Park.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, Forsyth County Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers said teams were continuing to search Lake Lanier near the park for Cody Daniel Gibbs.

According to Shivers, investigators with the sheriff’s office have been talking with family and friends of Gibbs in hopes of “finding him safe and sound.”

“The search [of the lake] is because we have felt all along that there was a strong possibility that he was in the lake, unfortunately,” Shivers said. “But we, of course, are continuing to hope that he is safe somewhere else.”

The search Wednesday has been limited to using sonar. Divers haven’t gone in the water because nothing has turned up that warranted closer investigation, Shivers said.

Gibbs was apparently among a group of about 20 people ranging in age from late teens to early 20s who were at a party in a remote, unpaved section of the park, which is on a peninsula in northeast Forsyth.

The party-goers scattered when a sheriff’s deputy discovered the gathering. The deputy was able to detain some of them, but heard others jump in the water.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the people emerged from the water and left the park on foot or by a vehicle parked nearby.

Gibbs was one of five who initially couldn’t be accounted for and authorities feared might have drowned. By mid-morning Tuesday, however, all but three had been located.

The other two, who have been identified only as young women, later turned up safely elsewhere.

Teams searched Lanier most of the day Tuesday for Gibbs, renewing those efforts this morning.

“Today, sonar activities have been resumed on a limited scale by the Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources,” Shivers said.

No charges have been filed in connection with the party, which reportedly involved alcohol, as authorities continue to sort out the situation.